Conan Suspected
by Mangaka Sapphire N
Summary: It's summer, and Conan doesn't know what to do. The Black Organization was miraculously arrested. Haibara has decided to stay undercover as a child for now. As for Conan, the antidote hasn't been found yet and he just can't seem to be able to reveal his identity to Ran.
1. Conan Suspected

_**Moshi moshi! Sapphire Nightshade here! If anyone reading this is also reading "Trouble in Danville", then I apologize for not updating. School has started and I have Writer's Block for that story. Gomen'nasai. However, this is a completely different story, and the only reason why I didn't put the Black Organization's capture in here is because I have no idea how they would be captured. **_

_**Warning: there ARE undefined Japanese words in this story. You might want to look them up if you don't know them, because I don't feel like typing out the translation of every single Japanese word I use. **_

_**Anyway, this is the first chapter of "Conan Suspected", written because I haven't seen Ran suspect Conan in a long time. **_

* * *

Chapter 1:

"Taku," Hattori Heiji – Highschool Detective of the West – said in an exasperated tone. "Just tell her already."

"I told you," Edogawa Conan, shrunken Kudo Shinichi – Highschool Detective of the East – replied, "I've tried, but I can't seem to get the words out."

Ran had gotten free tickets to a movie and invited Heiji and Kazuha to come over and watch with them. Heiji agreed immediately, knowing that he would be seeing the first-grade-highschooler again. Kazuha came along with him.

Now it was the night before the movie and Ran, Kazuha and Sonoko – who Ran also invited – were in Ran's room, while Detective Mouri had left to play Mahjong with his friends. Conan and Heiji were hanging out in his office.

"Well, what's preventing you?" Heiji asked.

"Despite Ran now being safe whether I tell her or not, I just can't seem to tell her," Conan replied. "And when I see her looking sad, I begin to tell her, but then something interrupts. Like that poor excuse for a detective bursting in the door all drunk.

"Naruhodo," Heiji said, thinking with his head resting upon his hand. "Well, you'd have to explain all of those times when you used fake alibis to 'prove' that you're not Kudo."

"Exactly, and the only reason we're not bankrupt and in debt is because of Sleeping Kogoro. Without that act, who knows what would happen to them."

"I see the situation you're in."

"What situation?" a voice asked. Conan and Heiji turned around.

"R-Ran-nee-chan," Conan said.

"Ah, he was just telling me about a science project for school," Heiji said quickly, "and how he doesn't know what to do for it."

"Oh, well I'm sure you'll figure it out, Conan-kun," Ran encouraged. "After all, you're very smart for you're age."

"Heh heh," Conan said, rubbing the back of his head, keeping up his act. _It's more like I'm very small for my age,_ he thought.

"I'm hungry!" Heiji said suddenly.

"Eh?" Conan and Ran asked.

"W-Well, I didn't have any dinner . . ." Heiji explained.

"Oh, well then do you want me to cook something for you?" Ran asked.

"Ooo, can I help?" Kazuha asked, overhearing the conversation. Sonoko followed her to Ran.

"Of course!" Ran replied.

" Then let's make . . ." Sonoko said as the trio of girls walked into the kitchen.

Conan and Heiji let out a sigh of relief.

"There, I saved you again," Heiji said.

"I thought you would tell her," Conan said.

"I-it was habit! Habit!" Heiji said, not knowing why he was defending himself.

"Why don't you boys go for a walk or something while we cook?" Kazuha called.

"Hai, hai," Heiji said, walking out the door with Conan trailing behind.

"Hey, Ran-chan," Sonoko said, bringing out the flour and sugar and placing them on the counter.

"Nani?"

"There's a festival tomorrow. Maybe we could go before the movie. I heard the fortunes there are very accurate."

"Sonoko, fortunes _again_?" Ran asked.

"You never know when your luck might change," she replied.

"So what do you plan on doing?" Heiji asked the detective.

"I don't know," Conan replied, "What would you do?"

"Considering the fact that I don't know what I'd do if I was the one poisoned instead of you in the first place, then I have no idea. Just tell her already. Get up the courage somehow."

Conan just shook his head and continued walking down the sidewalk as the sun set with an orange glow. Suddenly, his phone started to ring.

"Dinner's ready!" Ran's voice rang out from the cell when Conan answered it.

"Okay!" Conan replied. "We're heading back now!"

As the two detectives walked into the entrance of the Mouri Detective Agency, the delicious smell of Ran's cooking wafted over them.

"Tadaima!" Conan said.

"Okaeri!" Ran replied.

"That smells delicious!" Heiji exclaimed.

"Of course," Sonoko replied, "It's Ran's cooking, along with ours."

"What did you guys make?" Conan asked.

"Well," Ran said as they walked into the kitchen, "Due to a certain someone, we ran out of ingredients and the only thing I could think of to make at the time was Omurice and Onigiri."

Conan ran over to the table and sat down, saying, "Itadakimasu!"

Everyone followed him and, after sitting down, echoed, "Itadakimasu!"

Conan took a bite and said, "Oishii, Ran!" with a childish grin.

Ran laughed and said, "Arigatou, Conan-kun."

After eating, Heiji located the remote and turned on the TV.

"Hey, isn't this the prequel to the movie we're watching?" Kazuha asked when she saw what had come on.

"Really?" Heiji asked, "What movie are we watching again?"

"You forgot? How could you forget?!"

Heiji rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment. "Well, I guess I was just so excited at seeing Kuuu-onan," he quickly covered up. That was close. "that I'm not sure I even heard it in the first place."

"Taku!" Kazuha sighed.

"It's the _Guardian of the Secret Chamber_," Ran said.

"Eh? Isn't that one having to do with a murder mystery?" Heiji asked.

"Yeah, and no spoiling it for the rest of us if you solve it," Kazuha warned.

"Hai, hai." Heiji said. Then a thought struck him. "Why do you want to watch a creepy murder mystery anyway?"

"W-Well," Ran said.

"Oh, I remember the culprit in this!" Conan exclaimed. "Well, more liked I re-discovered," he corrected. _Phew,_ Ran thought, _Saved by Conan-kun._

"It's the-"

"Shhhhhhh!" Sonoko and Kazuha shushed.

"We haven't seen it in a while so we forgot," Kazuha said.

"So don't spoil it!" Sonoko added.

"Hai, hai," Conan sighed.

They watched the rest of the movie, and Conan almost spoiled it for them again until Sonoko threatened to tape his mouth shut with duct tape.

When the movie ended, Sonoko said, "Hey, Ran."

"Huh? Nani?" Ran replied.

"Don't you think Conan is a lot like Shinichi?"

"O-of course. Why do you ask?"

"Well, the way he notices things, how he knows so much, how smart he is . . . He even solved a case in front of you before!"

_Many_, Conan corrected in thought, _Except those were as Sleeping Kogoro._

"Heiji mistakenly calls Conan by Kudo . . . He even looks like Kudo Shinichi for goodness sake!"

Ran pulled Sonoko off to the side.

_This isn't good,_ Conan thought, hiding around a corner so he could listen in on their conversation.

"What are you trying to get at?" Ran asked.

"I'm saying," Sonoko replied, "that that kid is a little too much like that detective geek."

"Well, he is the son of one of Shinichi's distant relatives . . ."

"But for a distant relative, wouldn't that be too much?"

"What are you saying?"

"Maybe . . . Maybe Conan is saying he's someone he isn't."

_Yikes!_ Conan thought. _Does Sonoko suspect me . . . ?_

"I'm not saying he's Shinichi or anything, that would be impossible-"

_Phew._

"-but maybe he's not really Edogawa Conan."

Ran decided to play along for now. "But then who would he be?"

"Don't ask me," Sonoko said. "Just not who he says he is."

To make sure this secret conversation didn't go any farther, Conan suddenly jumped out and said in his child voice, "What are you guys talking about, Ran-neesan?"

Mentally, Sonoko noted that where the kid had popped out wasn't in the direction of Detective Mouri's office, where they had been watching TV.

But before Sonoko could question the detective about this, Ran replied, "Oh, it was nothing important. But now you should go to bed, Conan-kun. You'll have to wake up early tomorrow so we can get to the movie theater on time." Then she said to Sonoko, "We're not going to the festival. There won't be enough time."

"Aw," Sonoko replied.

"Huh? It's that early?" Conan asked.

"That said," Heiji added as he walked in with Kazuha, overhearing the short conversation and ignoring Conan's question, "we should all go to bed."

"Hai!" Sonoko, Ran, Conan and Kazuha agreed.

* * *

_**First chapter. Updates will be spontaneous and chapter lengths will probably vary because of school. Ja ne! **_


	2. The Notice

_**Moshi moshi! Sapphire Nightshade here with another chapter! I'll post again tomorrow, since I already wrote the chapter, but I don't know when the next chapter after that will be out. **_

_**Next chapter! **_

* * *

_Chapter 2: The Notice: _

"So?" Heiji asked in Conan's room after they all got ready for bed, "What were those two talking about?"

"Sonoko suspects I'm not who I say I am, but not necessarily Kudou Shinichi," Conan replied.

"That's the 'Deduction Queen' for you," Heiji commented.

"She's only the Deduction Queen because Sleeping Kogoro wasn't available at the time," Conan retorted.

"Hai, hai."

Meanwhile, Ran was doing some deducing of her own. _Sonoko's right,_ she thought, _but if there's anyone he would be, it would have to be Shinichi, right? But that doesn't make sense. There's as much evidence against it as there is for it. And how could he become small, anyway? It's not like this is a manga or anything . . . But if he was, everything would make sense. I don't know what to think!_

Ran shook her head; she just didn't get it. Well, she could think about it tomorrow. Time to sleep on it.

Heiji Hattori came out of the mall's movie theater giggling, "Hahaha! The first movie that ever existed that stumped the Great Detective of the Ea-" He noticed that Ran was staring at him closely. "Elementary School," Heiji barely covered up.

"Oi, oi," Conan replied, "You weren't able to solve it either."

Heiji's eyes became like dots. "S-so?" he asked.

"Well, since we're already here," Sonoko said, "why don't we go explore the mall?"

"Good idea!" Kazuha agreed.

"Fine," Heiji sighed.

After they walked for a few minutes, and while everyone else was in the restrooms, something caught Conan's eyes. "Eh?" he exclaimed, "There's a museum here?"

"A small one, but YES," a familiar voice replied, the last word said in English.

"Jodie-sensei?!" Conan asked, "What are you doing here?!"

"Hmph," the FBI agent pretended to pout, "What's wrong with going to a Japanese mall?"

"More importantly," Conan said, starting to whisper, "Did you get a few samples of it yet?"

"You mean the Apotoxin 4869?" Jodie whispered back. Conan nodded. "Yes, but why did you need it again?"

"Ah, some people ended up ingesting it," Conan whispered, thinking of himself and Haibara, "I was going to give them to Professor Agasa so he could find an antidote for those people."

"Naruhodo," Jodie replied. "But wasn't it supposed to be a lethal drug?"

"W-well, it didn't seem to kill them yet. But they're in a very bad condition."

"Well then, I'll give them to the Professor in a couple days. Okay, Conan-kun?"

"Hai! Arigatou, Jodie-sensei!" Conan called as the agent walked away.

"Eh? 'Jodie-sensei'?" Ran asked, coming up behind him with Sonoko and Kazuha. "Was Jodie-sensei here?"

"Y-yeah," Conan replied. "But she just left."

"Anyway," Sonoko interrupted, "Let's check out that museum. I heard it recently got an amazing new artwork a few months ago! It's going to be on display in a few days!"

_Oi, oi,_ Conan thought as he saw a familiar face at the entrance of the mini museum, _don't tell me . . . _

"Inspector Nakamori!" Ran said, "What are you doing here?"

"Could it be," Sonoko added, "that my Kid-sama has left me a note to tell me where he will be waiting for me?"

_What kind of twisted logic is that?_ Conan thought.

"W-well, sort of, not exactly," Takagi said behind Nakamori.

"Detective Takagi?" Conan asked, "What are you doing here?"

_He said the exact same thing as Ran . . ._ Heiji thought.

"W-well," Takagi started.

"Because we came here to look around," Sato said behind Takagi. "However, right as we started to relax, there was a commotion and we found this." Sato held up a white card between her index and middle fingers.

"Ah le le," Conan said, "Is that-?"

"It is!" Sonoko interrupted, "It's an advance notice from my Kid-sama!"

_Your Kid-sama?_ Heiji thought, not used to seeing this side of Sonoko.

"Can I see it, Sato-san?" Conan asked.

"Ah, sure," Sato replied, handing it to the small detective.

"'Where the water never stays still,'" Conan read aloud, subconsciously translating the middle part into Japanese for everyone else, "'I will arrive twice to obtain the heart of sadness at the exhibition. Kaito Kid.'"

"Eh?" Ran asked, "There's no specific time mentioned . . ."

"No," Conan replied, "We need to solve the code before the said time."

"Well, as far as the place," Nakamori interrupted, "'Where the water never stays still' refers to this small museum, the 'Oceanic Waves'."

_Heh, who would name a museum that?_ Conan thought as he gave Sato the card back.

"Hey, Ran-nee-chan," Conan asked, "Can we come back when Kid comes? I usually do anyway . . ."

"Huh? S-sure," Ran replied, "But the police need to solve Kid's riddle first."

"Ah, okay! Maybe we should let Ojisan know about the riddle. Maybe he can solve it!" Of course, that was just said so that the police didn't suspect him if, no, when he solved it. He would go over it on the way home and try figuring it out. Well, maybe just at home, since going over it in front of Ran and Sonoko while they suspected him wasn't a very good idea.

"Sou desu ne, Conan-kun."

"Alright!" Sonoko said, "Let's head back and solve this thing fast so I can see Kid-sama!"

* * *

_**I just can't keep Kaito Kid out of my Detective Conan/Case Closed stories, can I? Not that I tried not to, or anything like that. What can I say, he's my favorite antagonist ^_^ Ja ne! **_


	3. Solving the Code

**_Konnichiwa! Sapphire Nightshade here! Thanks to reviewers for giving me suggestions. I'll try my best to make the story better. _**

* * *

Chapter 3: Solving the Code:

As they were walking home, Conan heard a familiar voice behind him.

"It's Conan-kun!" Ayumi exclaimed, running up to greet him.

"Oh, Ayumi, Genta, Mitsuhiko, what are you guys doing here?" Conan said, turning around to see the three Detective Boys.

"We just came back from a restaurant!" Genta exclaimed, a grin on his face.

"And Genta's very excited, since he finally got his eel and rice," Mitsuhiko explained.

"Hey, what do you mean by 'finally', Mitsuhiko? I have it a lot!"

"R-really?" Mitsuhiko asked. "And you're not tired of it?"

"Of course not! It's eel and rice!"

"Hey," Ayumi interrupted, looking at Ran for an answer, "can we hang out at Conan-kun's house?"

"I guess," Ran replied, "And you all might notice something in the code, too." The three Detective Boys were both excited and confused at the mention of a code.

_Oi, oi,_ Conan thought, _Don't I get a say in this?_

Heiji just gave Conan a mocking smile when he saw the shrunken detective's face.

On the way to the Mouri Detective Agency, Conan satisfied the kids' confusion by telling them about the notice from Kid, including the fact that the part that said "I will arrive twice" was in English.

"Well," Mitsuhiko said, looking around himself, "Americans have this game they sometimes play on road trips called the "Alphabet Game". They look around and find letters of the English alphabet in the correct order. Whoever reaches the end first wins. Maybe that will give us some ideas."

"Baka!" Heiji said, "There aren't many English words in Japan. And 'q' would be especially hard to find. And I doubt you all know every English letter."

"Well," Ayumi suggested, "Maybe we could do it with shapes instead? And you can write down what the letters look like, so we can find them!"

"Good idea, Ayumi-chan!" Genta said. "I'll be looking for a noodle 's'!"

"Mou, Genta-kun," Ayumi replied.

As they played the modified Alphabet game, Conan went over the notice in his head. He looked around himself and played a little with the others, but it was only so that he might find something that would help him figure it out. They reached a road crossing and waited for the walking signal to turn green. Conan shook his head as an attempt to clear his mind.

So far, everybody was ahead of Ayumi in the Alphabet game. She was on the letter "i", but she hadn't found anything yet. Mitsuhiko was stuck at "q" and Genta was on "s". Ayumi looked down at her watch to see what time it was, and perhaps how much longer it would take to get to the Mouri Detective Agency. "Hey, I found two 'i's!" she suddenly exclaimed.

_Ah le?_ Conan thought.

"Eh? Where?" Genta asked.

"Look at your watches!" Ayumi said. "The small, long pieces that tell you what time it is. When they're lined up with the minute or hour line, it looks like an 'i'!"

_Wait a second . . ._ Conan thought to himself. _I've got it!_

When Conan looked up, he found three young faces staring at him.

"Conan-kun has an idea!" Ayumi said.

_Oi, oi,_ Conan thought when he realized that his face had given him away, _don't go shouting it out! Ran and Sonoko already suspect me._

"So, what is it?" Mitsuhiko asked.

"Well, it's nothing much," Conan replied as the walking signal turned green and they crossed the street. He would tell Heiji later so that the Great Detective of the West would be the one to "solve" it and the small detective himself wouldn't be suspected anymore than he already was.

"Aw," Genta said. "Well, let's get back to the game anyway."

"Hai!" Ayumi and Mitsuhiko replied as Genta found his noodle "s".

"So?" Heiji asked in a room off to the side of Detective Mouri's office where everyone else was trying to figure out the code. The two detectives decided to isolate themselves so that Conan wouldn't be suspected to be someone he didn't say he was, even though it was true.

"So . . . ?" Conan asked.

"You solved it right?" Heiji explained, "The code?"

"Oh. Hai, I did."

"Are you going to tell me?"

"Oh come on, you should have figured it out by now, too."

Heiji shrugged, "You couldn't solve the movie, I couldn't solve the code. We're even."

"You didn't explain the movie to me," Conan retorted, crossing his arms.

Heiji did a 60-second explanation of the case in the movie to Conan.

"Naruhodo," Conan said.

"Now what about the code?" Heiji asked.

"We already know where the heist will take place," Conan explained. "and the target was easy to figure out. The 'heart of sadness' refers to the new jewel that will come to _Oceanic Waves_ in a few days, _Aoi Kokoro_. The time frame was what I was stuck on. The middle was obviously the part of the code that explained the time, but I couldn't figure it out. Why would it be in English, anyway?"

"Hai, hai," Heiji prodded, "What is it?"

Conan stuck to his slow explanation. "I figured it out when Ayumi mentioned the letter 'i'. She said that she saw two 'i's on her watch. That made me think, what if the reason that part was in English was because it wouldn't work in Japanese? What if Kid wasn't talking about the pronoun 'I' but the letter 'i'? 'I shall arrive twice'. That's 'i' two times. If you look at an analog clock, the only time you would see 'i' twice so that it's not tilted to one side or another is at Midnight, when both hands on the clock are lined up with each other."

"Soka!" Heiji said. "So that's what it was."

"Aa, now we just need to wait for that infamous phantom thief to show his face at the exhibition."

* * *

_**I tried adding more description, but since I had already written the chapter, I couldn't do much with it. Ja ne! **_


	4. Eavesdropping Causes Suspicion

_**Konnichiwa! Sapphire Nightshade here again back with another chapter! **_

* * *

Chapter 4: Eavesdropping Causes Suspicion:

Conan and Heiji walked back into Detective Mouri's office when they saw that he had finally woken up from his night of Mahjong and was trying to solve the code with everyone else. The two highschool detectives joined everyone else and pretended to think about the code, even going along with their suggestions for a little while until proving them wrong.

Finally, Heiji said, "Ayumi-chan, what did you say when we were walking here, again? I might have gotten an idea, but it left me and I want you to say it again. Maybe it'll come back."

"You mean about finding the 'i'?" Ayumi asked.

"Aa," Heiji replied. Ayumi told him and he exclaimed while bringing his fist down on his open palm, "Soka! So that's it!"

"Eh?" everyone replied, including Conan who was playing along.

Heiji explained Conan's deduction to everyone and Conan called Sato to have her inform Inspector Nakamori. Once Nakamori was told, the police made preparations to capture the infamous thief.

It was the day before the heist. Ran had gone out to go shopping and the other girls had gone with her. Heiji was still asleep, after not being able to sleep the night before. Detective Mouri fell asleep on his desk while drinking and listening to horse-racing. Conan was reading a book in his room when the doorbell rang. He quickly got up and ran to the door, preparing to do his child face along the way.

However, when he opened the door, it wasn't a client for Mouri, but instead a member of the FBI. "Jodie-sensei?" Conan asked. "Nande koko ni?!"*

"Konnichiwa, Cool Kid," she replied. Then she poked her head in to see if anyone else was there. After seeing Mouri asleep in a weird position on his desk, she said to Conan, "Let's talk outside."

Ran left Sonoko and Kazuha to their shopping. She forgot something at home and was now heading back to get it. When she was within sight of the Mouri Detective Agency, she noticed two people standing outside talking to each other. As she got closer, she discovered that it was Conan-kun and Jodie-sensei, who were deep in conversation and didn't notice her. Suddenly, Ran had a strange feeling that instead of walking up to the two, she should hide nearby and eavesdrop on their conversation. So she hid in a narrow alley next to the Agency and listened carefully, making sure not to make any noise.

"Wow, you figured all of that out on your own?" Jodie asked Conan.

"Well, I had a little help from Ayumi when she mentioned that," Conan replied.

"Still, I knew you were very smart, but that seemed a bit hard, even for you. Kid really said that in his notice?"

"Umn!" Conan replied.

_But that's not right,_ Ran thought, _Heiji is the one that solved Kid's notice. So why is Conan lying and saying that he was the one who solved it? _

"Well, if you find out anything more about that organization, make sure to tell me, okay?" Jodie said as she started turning away from Conan to leave.

"Hai! And make sure you give those drugs to Prof. Agasa on your way back!"

"OKAY!" She said in English as she passed by the alley Ran was in on the way to the professor's house, causing the girl to press flat against the wall and hope she wouldn't be seen. When the FBI agent passed with no idea that she was there, Ran let out a mental sigh of relief and thought to herself, _What was that all about? Were they talking about that organization that always wore black that they captured a little while ago? They mentioned something about lethal drugs when they captured that organization, so if it is them, then why would Conan want Professor Agasa to have them? _

Confused, Ran retraced her steps and walked toward the Agency again, without hiding in the alley, so Conan wouldn't suspect that she was spying on them. When she walked in saying, "Tadaima!", Conan ran up to her saying, "Okaeri, Ran-neechan! That was fast! Where are Sonoko-san and Kazuha-san?"

_He's acting like nothing happened,_ Ran thought to herself. Then she replied, "Iie, I just came back because I forgot something." She grabbed something off the table - Conan couldn't tell what it was - and added, "Ittekimasu, Conan-kun!"

"Itterasshai!" Conan replied as Ran walked out the door, completely unaware of her eavesdropping and now-increased suspicion of the first-grade-highschooler.

* * *

_***I'm just putting this in because its an actual sentence instead of just a word or two. Also there's less of a chance for people to know what it means. I've heard Conan say "Nande koko ni" many times in Detective Conan, along with "Doshite koko ni". It basically means "What are you doing here?" (When "doshite" instead of "nande", it's "Why are you here?") **_

_**Ja ne! **_


	5. The Heist

_**Kon'nichiwa! Sapphire Nightshade here! This chapter is kind of long - probably the longest chapter I've ever written - but I've been working on it whenever I could all week. I had a bit of trouble during the part right before the heist and the heist itself, but I just finished it up today. **_

_**Time for the 4th chapter, and for the heist that Kid will remember for as long as he lives. **_

* * *

Chapter 5: The Heist:

Police sirens wailed very late the next day as the sun went down. Helicopters buzzed around the mall, their spotlights shining down on anyone in the vicinity. Inside, police officers guarded the entrance to a small art museum within the modern mall. Even though it was hours before the Magician under the Moonlight would appear, everyone was tense, and that included the shrunken detective that Ran had made to sleep early so he wouldn't be tired when he went to see Kid.

"Ne," Ran asked a policeman as she entered the museum, "Why would Kaito Kid, who always targets big jewels, come to such a small place?"

"Well, apparently," he replied, "The _Aoi Kokoro_ was going to go to that famous museum a little ways away from here, but _Oceanic Waves_ asked if they could display it for a little while to get more customers."

"Soka," Ran replied.

_Well, they're gonna get customers alright,_ Conan thought to himself, _The famous Kaito Kid, along with those who want to go to the sights where Kid has stolen gems before._

Conan, Ran, Heiji, Kazuha and Sonoko walked into the room where the _Aoi Kokoro_ would be on display for all to see. Conan looked around and saw Inspector Nakamori talking with a man on the other side of the room. He walked over before Ran could keep him back.

"Don't worry," Inspector Nakamori was saying, "The _Aoi Kokoro_ will be kept safe and sound."

"Are you sure about that?" the man Nakamori was talking to, Karamaru Sizou - the museum manager - replied, "For as long as I've seen Kid around, you haven't come close to capturing him once! Even that kid," he pointed at Conan, "can do better than the police!"

"P-please," Nakamori replied, "Conan-kun isn't necessarily a normal kid. Sometimes I wonder myself how he's become so smart."

_Another person suspecting me,_ Conan thought, _Well, Inspector Nakamori is better than Ran or Sonoko._

Everyone spent the rest of the time before Midnight getting ready to face the kaito. Conan, along with Heiji, examined the defense system that Nakamori had set up, looking for any "holes" in it and telling Nakamori about any that he uncovered. Or trying to tell him, anyway.

The defense system was overkill, literally. As Nakamori explained it to Karamaru, Heiji and Conan listened in. "First, there's the four thin and almost invisible wires coming off the display case," the inspector said "Those, when turned on, will give a painful shock to anything that touches them. Also, they are connected to six batteries, just in case Kaito Kid decides to turn off the lights on us again. There will be fluorescent flashlights shining up at him if he decides to steal it in the dark, as well. If he somehow overcomes the wires, then if the display case is even touched, fire will flare up around it. If all else fails, then the only defense left will be the pitfall."

"Pitfall?" Karamaru raised his eyebrows.

"Hai, the pitfall will allow the reinforced display case, along with Kaito Kid, to fall into a small pool, accompanied by piranhas."

_Oi, oi,_ Conan thought, _You aren't trying to kill him, are you?_

"But doesn't this seem . . . a little much?" Karamaru asked.

"My thoughts exactly," Heiji said, deciding to speak up. "We're trying to capture the phantom thief, not kill him."

"Don't worry, he won't be hit by them at the same time. Each part is scheduled to turn on when the part before it fails."

Karamaru, still seeming a bit skeptical, turned back to look at the display case. Something caught his eyes as light flashed across the gem. "Eh?" the small group of people said as the manager suddenly ran toward the display case.

"K-kore wa . . . !" he said.

"Huh, nani?!" Nakamori asked as everyone caught up with Karamaru.

"T-this is real! I was sure I put a fake one down!"

"Nani?!" everyone exclaimed.

Karamaru frantically searched his coat until he found what he was looking for. He held it up to the moonlight filtering in through the window. He relaxed and said, "Here it is. This is the fake." The manager gently switched the real and the fake gems.

"But you know," Conan said, "fake gems rarely fool Kaito Kid."

"Don't worry," he replied, trying to reassure the "boy", "this isn't like one of those cheap fakes. Kid won't know the difference."

"But you were able to tell by looking at it in the moonlight!"

"W-well, that's because I was looking in a certain small spot."

"Hm," Conan replied, still not convinced that Kid wouldn't know the difference between the two gems. Suddenly, Conan heard a noise and turned around to see Professor Agasa running up to him, out of breath.

"Gomen nasai," the professor said, "I almost forgot the showdown was today and was in the midst of trying to figure out the antidote when Ai reminded me."

_Showdown?_ Conan thought, pondering the professor's choice of words.

Sometime later . . .

It was five minutes till said time. Nakamori cleared the room of Kaito Kid fans and ordered the remaining people to gather into pairs and come up with some code between them. Then they would make sure that their partner wasn't the phantom thief.

Conan looked around himself, glad that there was at least one advantage to being physically converted back into a child again when he saw the pairs of people pinching one another's faces. Kid fans began counting down as the time got closer to midnight.

"Juu . . . kyuu . . . hachi . . . !"

"Prepare for Kid!" Nakamori shouted.

"Go . . . yon . . . san . . . ni . . . ichi . . . zero!"

Then the lights went out, as usual. The flashlights turned on, but the vision was obscured by something. When the main lights came back on, Kid was standing atop the _Aoi Kokoro_'s display case, surrounded by white smoke and light from the fluorescent flashlights, with the black paper and cloth that had covered them before now lying on the ground next to them.

"H-how?!" Nakamori asked.

"Simple, Inspector Nakamori," Kid replied, sitting down cross-legged on the display case, "Your defense system was too easy to infiltrate."

"Nani?!"

"I'm afraid you can't explain magic. I'll be taking this now. Ja ne!" Kid threw down a card and white smoke billowed up around him. When the smoke cleared, both Kid and the _Aoi Kokoro_ were gone.

"G-get after him!" Nakamori yelled to his subordinates.

"Hai!" they replied, running off in all directions to find the elusive thief. Conan and Heiji stayed behind, however, to look for evidence of how Kid had disappeared. Conan looked closely at the cushion inside the display case that the _Aoi Kokoro_ was in. Yes, it was as he thought, the pattern of creases and wrinkles had changed slightly. One would normally think that that happened as he was grabbing the jewel, but then why would there be small wrinkles at the edge of the cushion, where he wouldn't have touched? Also, Conan knew from experience that Kid liked to stay close to his pursuers so that he wouldn't be suspected. Kid was either with the group that ran off to capture him, or still in this room.

Heiji walked up to the shrunken detective. "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" he asked.

"Aa," Conan replied. "All we need now is to uncover him."

But the question was: how?

As Conan and Heiji thought about it, they heard a voice behind them speak.

"See, little boy," Karamaru said, "Kid did fall for the fake one."

_Masaka!_ Conan thought as realization dawned. There was only one way the phantom thief would've been able to pull it off. Conan and Heiji glanced at each other and saw that they had reached the same conclusion once again.

Turning on his child expression, Conan said, "Yeah, I guess he did!" Then his expression changed as he added, "That is, if Kid really stole the fake one."

"W-what are you talking about? He obviously stole the fake one I put in the display case."

"Aa," Heiji replied, "he stole the one in the display case alright. It just wasn't a fake."

"Eh?! But I made sure that I placed the right one in!"

"Hai, you did," Conan agreed, "_Kaito Kid!_"

Ran, Sonoko, Kazuha and Professor Agasa turned toward the detectives and the kaito when they heard Conan's accusation. They waited to see his reaction to it.

"Karamaru" looked surprised at first, but then his expression returned to normal as he tore off the mask. "Heh," Kid said, "You always find me out, don't you? But how did you know?"

Before Conan could explain, he heard Ran scream, "Kyaaaaaaa!"

"Ran!" Conan exclaimed, forgetting to call her "nee-san", as he swirled around to see her stumbling backwards from the open window she was standing near, hundreds of little dots flowing in. Hornets. Angry hornets.

"Ran, run!" Conan yelled. "And get everyone out of here!" If someone got stung by this many hornets, they could very well die even if they somehow managed to get treatment in time. Half of the hornets followed Ran out of the room, but the other half turned on the other six in the room. Kid gulped.

Oddly enough, barely any of the insects went for the three. The majority turned toward the two girls and the professor. Mostly the professor.

"Guwaaaaa!" the professor yelled. He ran in circles around the room, panicked and not thinking straight. He grabbed something out of his pocket and threw it at the hornets behind him. It hit one of them, making it crash land, but the object didn't slow down. At the time the professor threw the oval object, he was turned away from Kid. Now that thing sailed toward the phantom thief.

Somewhat panicked by the sight of the hornets, Kid thought that, despite the half red, half white color, the thing flying at him was one of the hornets. "Gah!" he exclaimed, the object flying into his open mouth. Kid collapsed and started coughing, choking on it.

"Let's get out of here!" Conan said as he tried unsuccessfully to drag Kid out of the room. Heiji helped Conan and the group ran out of the room and out of an emergency exit in the mall's hallway into an alley. They quickly closed the door, preventing the persistent insects from following them. As Conan looked around, he saw the cause of the outburst of hornets. A now-empty hornets' nest lay smashed against the concrete of the alley.

"Kazuha, Sonoko, check on Ran!" Conan ordered the two. "I need to take care of this kaito," he added, muttering to himself. The girls nodded and ran off to find Ran.

Kid had managed to stop himself from choking, but he didn't look any better. He had ended up swallowing the thing the professor had thrown instead of spitting it out. Now he was on all fours on the ground, seeming to have difficulty breathing.

"Hey, is he alright?" Heiji asked. Kid was growing worse by the second. Now they could practically see smoke rising from his body.

Suddenly, an idea came into Conan's head. "Professor Agasa!" he said, "What did you throw at the hornets?!"

"Ah, um, I . . . don't know," the professor confessed, "I just grabbed whatever I had in my pocket at the time." Suddenly, Professor Agasa started searching his clothes. His face grew pale when he couldn't find what he was looking for.

"What happened?" Conan asked.

"W-well, remember how I told I was in the midst of figuring out the antidote when Ai-kun reminded me of Kid's heist?"

"Haaaai," Conan said, prompting him on and now starting to dread what was coming next.

"W-well, halfway there I realized that I hadn't put the drug down before rushing over."

"No!" Conan said, spinning around and now seeing smoke, or steam, or whatever it was, definitely coming off of Kid. "This is bad. This is really bad." Then the phantom thief shrunk before their eyes.

Kid had become a kid.

* * *

_**Gomen'nasai, Kaito Kid-kun! **_

_**So now Kid is a kid . . . ironic. **_


	6. Kid turned Kid

_**Konbanwa! Sapphire Nightshade here! There was a chemical reaction in Advanced Chem today that made me think of a magic trick. A piece of a certain kind of paper was lit on fire, was immediately engulfed in flames, and was immediately let go. Right before it touched the ground, the light that the fire was giving off became very bright, and then the fire disappeared, leaving no trace whatsoever of the paper it had engulfed. Not even ash. Very much like a magic trick to me. **_

_**Next chapter, what will Kaito Kid do? **_

* * *

Chapter 6: Kid Turned Kid:

Kaito Kid lifted his head somewhat groggily. "What happened?" he asked to no one in particular. Then he noticed that the words had come out rather high-pitched, at least to what he was used to hearing. He looked up at the now-towering figures of Professor Agasa and Hattori Heiji. Then he looked at Edogawa Conan, whose height was level with his own. Then he looked down at himself and the clothes he was wearing that were now way too big for him. Then he realized what had happened. "Gah, I'm like you!" He exclaimed, pointing at Conan.

The small detective blinked. He didn't expect that reaction from the thief. He thought Kid would be a little more confused at what had happened, but he seemed to know what happened right away.

But Heiji was thinking of something else. He tried suppressing laughter at Kid's exclamation, but couldn't keep back a smile.

"Oh, this is bad," the kaito continued on, "This is really really bad. Ah, what am I gonna say to Aoko?* What's gonna happen to me? How will I find that thing and defeat that organization* while I'm like this?" Kid started asking questions so fast that it started sounding like gibberish. Maybe some of it actually was gibberish. It was too fast to tell.

"W-well, first things first," the professor said, "We need to get you out of here and into a change of clothes that actually fits."

Kid seemed to recover most of the way and nodded slightly.

"Alright!" Heiji said as he went forward to pick up the magician-turned-child.

"No no no no no," Kid replied. "I can walk on my own!" With that he started walking forward and promptly tripped over his clothes.

"You . . . sure about . . . that?" Heiji said, in between chuckles. The kaito stared daggers at the Great Highschool Detective of the West.

"I said I can do it by myself!" This time he walked more slowly and was being sure not to step on his clothes.

"Oh, just come on!" Conan replied taking the thief's hand and pulling him along.

"Chotto matte!" Kid replied trying not to trip as he ran along with Conan toward Professor Agasa's house, the only place the detective could think of at the time.

"Agasa-hakase!" Conan called back, "tell Ran that I'll be going home early!"

"W-wait, Shinichi!" the professor called, left in the dust after Heiji followed Conan. He shook his head and headed back toward the mall's entrance where Ran was to relay Conan's message.

On the way to Professor Agasa's house, Kid eventually let Heiji at least give him a piggyback ride and their pace slowed to a walk.

"Che, I feel helpless like this," he muttered to himself.

"Well, you are technically a child now," Conan replied, overhearing him.

"Wait, why are you too even being so friendly right now?" Heiji asked.

"I'm only helping him until he's prepared to 'be a kid'," Conan replied. "I don't intend to help him after that."

The three reached the inventor's house and Conan left to find some clothes for Kid. He came back and gave them to the thief. When Kid came out of the bathroom with the new clothes on, he was wearing a black shirt and blue jeans. He had also taken off his hat and monocle.

Professor Agasa walked through the door and saw the detective and kaito. "You two look like twins!" he exclaimed.

"Yeah, they do look pretty similar, don't they?" Heiji agreed.

Kid smiled, "And that's why I can keep you from being discovered." Then he added, almost to himself, "though I have thought about doing something embarrassing while dressed up as you before . . ."

"H-hey!" Conan replied.

Kid grinned. Then he noticed a flicker of movement from around the corner of a wall. _Hm? What's that?_ he asked himself. He soon found out when a girl came walking out.

She looked at him, then at Professor Agasa and Conan for explanation. "Who's this?" She asked.

"Ah, about that . . ." the professor started.

"Kaito Kid," Conan replied.

"Eh?" Ai asked, surprised. Then she stared into Professor Agasa's eyes. "What happened?"

"Ah ha, w-well, I kind of forgot to put the drug down when I went to see the showdown," the professor replied, embarrassed.

"Stop calling it a showdown!" Conan and Kid said in unison. They looked at each other somewhat awkwardly.

"Yes, twins indeed," Ai said.

Everyone sat down on the couch to talk about where the phantom thief could stay. Conan suggested the professor's house. That's where Ai was living, so why not Kid as well? But Ai was against it. Who knows what the thief might do? Professor Agasa absent-mindedly threw out the idea of Heiji's house, but both Heiji and Kid didn't like that idea.

Eventually, Kid said, "I don't really care where I'll live. Can't I just go back home?"

"No," Conan replied. "If that organization somehow finds out that you were shrunken by a drug that they made, we'd probably all be in trouble. Kid sighed. "Well, I don't really care much where you live either," Conan added, "as long as it's not your own house."

"Oh, really?" Heiji asked. "Well thank you for volunteering, then."

"N-no! That's not what I meant!"

"Yeah, good idea, Shinichi!" Professor Agasa replied.

"No! I didn't mean there!"

"Hm, that might actually be a little fun," Kid replied.

"Is nobody listening to me?!" Conan said. Kid grinned mischievously.

And so it was unanimously decided (excluding Conan) that the shrunken Kaito Kid would be living with Conan at the Mouri Detective Agency.

* * *

_**Hm, I feel that I'm a little off in their personalities. Oh well. Ja ne! **_


	7. The New Family Member

_**Konbanwa! Sapphire Nightshade here! Back with the 7th chapter! I launched a rocket today (one of those small ones. It looked like an orange crayon). It was fun, but our dog got freaked out, lol. **_

_**Anyway, there'll be a question that I'll ask you at the end of the chapter, so please respond.**_

* * *

Chapter 7: The New Family Member:

Conan sighed, head down, as he walked back to the detective agency. In contrast, Kid was walking happily behind him, seeing the chance to tease his rival instead of helping him. As they walked down the street, Kid started saying random sounds as he saw the hiragana letters that went along with them.

"What are you doing?" Conan asked, glancing back at the phantom thief.

"Trying to come up with a good false name," Kid replied. "Once I get eight different sounds, I'll rearrange them and try to come up with a good name. Ah," he added as he saw the い character, "'I', that's my third one."

"Naruhodo," Conan replied, not paying any more attention to the kaito. Eventually, Kid had gotten his eight hiragana characters: ね (ne), う (u), い (i), で (de), りゅ (ryu), ん (n), ら (ra), and が (ga).

"Hm, 'Neuide Ryunraga'," Kid said aloud.

"That makes no sense," Conan replied.

"I said I would rearrange them! Maybe . . . 'Garan Ryudeiune'?"

"At least it sounds a _little_ more Japanese," Conan offered, "But still not really."

"All I did was say them backwards," Kid replied in defense, "I wasn't expecting it to work."

Conan and Kid stayed silent for a few minutes, mixing up and rearranging the hiragana in their heads. They passed by a gaming store that had a new game displayed in its windows that showed the main character, Kurogane, slaying a dragon.

_Dragon . . . Kurogane_, Conan thought to himself, _Ryuu, Kurogane. We have four of those hiragana characters: Ryu, u, ga, and ne. Ah le? That sounds like it could work. Ryuugane. Yeah, it sounds like it could work well. But that would be a last name. What could his given name be?_ Well, he decided that he might as well at least tell Kid what his last name could be.

"Ne, how about 'Ryuugane'?" he said.

Kid looked up at him. "I like it," he replied after thinking about it and smiling a bit, "It sounds good."

"So then what's left for your first name?" Conan asked.

"Hm," Kid replied. After a few seconds, he remembered, "I, de, n, and ra."

"Naruhodo. Idenra . . . Randei . . . Deinra . . . Nidera . . . Radein . . . Raiden?"

"Ryuugane Raiden. I like it," Kid said as they walked up to the front door of the detective agency.

"Tadaima!" Conan said as he opened the door.

"Mou, Conan-kun," Ran said as she went to see Conan, "Why did you come back so late?" Then she saw the shrunken Kid behind him, "Ah le? Who's this?" she asked.

"T-that's why I'm late," Conan replied, "This is my brother, Ryuugane Raiden. My mom said that he was getting too troublesome in America and had to come back to Japan and stay with me."

"Eh? You never said that you had a brother."

"W-well . . ."

Ran walked up to the two boys and knelt down. She looked at Raiden, who was doing his little kid act by shyly hiding behind his "brother".

"I'm Mouri Ran," Ran told him, "but you can call me Ran-neechan. Yoroshiku."

"I-I'm R-Ryuugane Raiden. Y-yoroshiku."

_This guy's good_, Conan thought to himself.

"Wait a second," Ran said to Conan, "If he's your brother, then how come you guys have different last names?"

"O-oh," Conan stuttered, "Well, uh, he's my half brother."

"Ah, soka! That explains things. Well then, Raiden-kun, let me show you around."

"U-umn," Raiden replied, following Ran into the kitchen with Conan trailing behind.

When they walked into the kitchen they found Sonoko and Kazuha at the table drinking some hot tea that Ran made for them.

"Oh, okaeri, Conan-kun," Sonoko said when she saw him.

"Okaeri," Kazuha echoed.

"Tadaima," Conan said again.

"Oh, who's this?" Sonoko asked, seeing the new boy who had followed Ran.

"This is Raiden-kun. He's Conan-kun's brother," Ran introduced. "Raiden-kun, this is Sonoko and Kazuha."

"Yoroshiku," the three said.

The conversation was interrupted when Heiji came in through the door.

"Where were you, Heiji?!" Kazuha asked. "After the hornet incident, you hadn't come out of the mall and I was getting worried!"

"G-gomen'nasai, Kazuha," Heiji responded, a bit surprised at her outburst, "but shouldn't you be in bed by now? It's nearly 1 in the morning."

"Baka! How could I sleep while I didn't know if you were okay or not?!"

"Oh, so you actually were getting worried about me?" Heiji asked.

"I-I didn't say that . . . !"

"Hai, you did," Heiji said, "you said that I 'hadn't come out of the mall' and you were 'getting worried'."

"Baka," she muttered.

Heiji finally seemed to notice the phantom thief, whom it seemed like had recovered from being shy. "So, who's he?" he asked Conan specifically, talking about his name and why he was here.

"Ryuugane Raiden," Conan replied in a child-like voice, "He's my half brother. My parents thought he was causing too much trouble in America, so they sent him back to Japan with a translator to help him understand any English that was said on the plane that he needed to hear."

"Ah, soka," Heiji replied, a slight grin on his face as he looked over at the kaito. "Konbanwa, Raiden_-kun_," he added, stressing the "-kun". Raiden resisted sticking his tongue out at the detective.

"Jaa," Ran said, "since the two are brothers, I think Raiden-kun should sleep with Conan-kun. That said, I'm feeling a little tired myself."

Sonoko yawned, "Me too," she agreed, "Is it okay if I spend the night with you two?" she asked, addressing Ran and Kazuha.

"Sure, I don't mind," Ran replied. "Kazuha?"

"Why not?" Kazuha responded, yawning as well.

As the three got ready for bed, Heiji, Conan, and Raiden sat down on the couches in Detective Mouri's office. It looked like they were discussing a serious topic. _Hm,_ Ran thought as she turned her head away from the boys and walked into her room where Sonoko and Kazuha were in futons on the floor, already almost asleep.

Ran sighed as she plopped down onto her bed. Conan was acting weird again. Or, more like it, he'd been acting weird all along, and she just realized it now. For the whole time that Conan had been at the detective agency, he never once had gotten homesick. A normal 7-year-old boy would've gotten homesick long before. And then he suddenly brings home a brother that he's never told them about before. Not only did he never tell them about Raiden-kun before, he'd never told them about any of his family before. Ran thought back to the first time that they saw Conan's mom. When she came to pick him up, Conan had said that he'd never seen her before, and his facial expression went along with his statement. His mom had brushed that off as rejecting her since she'd been gone so long, and when they'd come back later, Conan seemed fine with her. But still, something seemed somehow . . . off. However, Ran's sleepiness took over, and she fell into a restless sleep caused by the confusion swirling inside of her.

* * *

_**Hope there wasn't too much dialogue . . . **_

_**Anyway, I have a question. When do you guys want the story to begin to end? Because I already have a 3-step ending in mind that would probably be at least 2 chapters, at most 5 (well, maybe a little more, idk). So what do you guys think? **_

_**P.S. Ja ne! **_


	8. The Feeling

_**Ohayo! Sapphire Nightshade here! This chapter is a little short, but I had Writer's Block last week until Thursday. Speaking of Thursday, on that day I saw a crow land on top of my high school's main building. Then I decided to sing Nanatsu no Ko (Seven Children) while watching it. **_

_**I just realized, a part in one of my chapters makes no sense whatsoever. In Solving the Code, Conan refuses to tell Heiji the explanation of the code until Heiji explains the case in the movie to him. But earlier, Heiji didn't understand it either. And in the movie, wouldn't the explanation have been revealed at the end of it anyway? What happened there? I don't know what I was thinking. Oh well, can't do anything about it now. **_

* * *

Chapter 8: The Feeling:

Hidden, he looked over at the Mouri Detective Agency and smirked. His mission was clear in his mind. This time, he would not fail . . .

* * *

"NANI?!" Detective Mouri exclaimed the next morning. "We have to take care of _another_ freeloader?!"

_Oi, oi_, Conan thought, _stop calling us freeloaders. _

"Gomen'nasai, Otousan," Ran replied, "It came up suddenly and there wasn't much we could do about it."

"Why can't he stay at Hattori-kun's house?" Kogoro asked, "Or Sonoko's?"

"O_tou_san!" Ran reprimanded, "Conan-kun and Raiden-kun are brothers! We're not going to separate them!"

"Hai, hai," Kogoro sighed, annoyed about the new member of the family. "Demo . . ."

Not wanting to have to listen to the "reasons" that Mouri Kogoro had come up with for not housing Raiden, Conan walked out of his office leaving everyone else. Heiji, however, noticed him and followed him outside, where Conan proceeded to juggle a soccer ball.

Heiji watched him for a little while as Conan bounced the soccer ball on his feet, legs, head, even behind his back where one of his feet caught it and bounced it back to the front. Then Heiji decided to say, "I still wonder how you do that."

"Ah!" Conan exclaimed, turning around and causing the soccer ball that was in midair to fall on his head before landing on the ground. After recovering, Conan added, "Heiji, I didn't hear you come up."

"I was behind you the whole time since you left the office," Heiji explained. "If you didn't notice that, then you must've been thinking hard."

"Aa," Conan replied. "I don't know what, but something's been bothering me."

"You're just worried because Kaito Kid is in your house and will probably be observing your every movement."

"Iie," Conan shook his head, "that's not it. I'd expect Kid observing me, and I'm doing the same to him. But this uneasiness . . . It started last week."

"Naruhodo . . ."

After a few seconds of silence, Conan resumed juggling the soccer ball in thought. So he once again failed to notice the footsteps of a group of people walking up.

"Oi, Kudo," Heiji whispered to Conan.

"Huh?" Conan asked, trapping the soccer ball beneath his foot. Then he saw four kids walking toward him.

"Hey, Conan-kun!" Ayumi called, waving her hand to catch his attention. The Detective Boys, including Haibara, came up to him. "Ne, Conan-kun," Ayumi asked, "Do you want to go with us to ask Professor Agasa to fix Genta's detective badge?"

"Huh? What happened to it?" Conan asked.

"I kinda spilled milk on it . . ." Genta confessed.

Before Conan could reply, Haibara walked up to him and whispered in his ear, "There's something important I need to tell you about. Go with them for now."

"A-aa," Conan replied. Then he said to the others, "I guess."

"Hey, you're just gonna leave me?" Heiji asked.

"Gomennasai, Heiji-niichan. It's something important," Conan replied, winking at him.

_Huh?_ Heiji thought as the three children and two "kids" walked away.

As Ayumi, Genta and Mitsuhiko talked amidst themselves, Conan and Haibara fell behind slightly. After a few minutes of listening to the children's chatter, Conan spoke up. "So? What did you want to tell me about?"

"For the past few weeks," Haibara explained, "I've been having this strange feeling. But it seems familiar."

"So you've been feeling it too?" Conan asked. "I might be feeling the same thing. It's almost as if we're being watched."

"Hai, and that feeling is mixed with something familiar, but I can't quite figure it out-"

Conan and Haibara stopped in their tracks, having that feeling. And in that moment, as the other Detective Boys walked ahead of them without knowing that the two had stopped, Haibara figured out what that strange feeling was. She subconsciously hid behind Conan.

"Huh?" Conan asked.

"It's them," Haibara replied, fear in her eyes.

"Them?" Conan asked, "How could it be them? They were arrested. All of them."

She shook her head, "I'd know that feeling anywhere. Maybe one of them escaped."

Conan glanced around himself, eyes narrowed. Nobody was in sight. Then he saw a slight movement out of the corner of his eye in a narrow alley. "There!" he said, taking off running toward the silhouette.

* * *

_**A member of the Black Org. wasn't captured . . . ? Ja ne! **_


	9. Conan Suspected Murder Case: Part 1

_**Kon'nichiwa! Okay, first things first . . . I'm SO SORRY for leaving you with a cliffhanger and then not posting for WEEKS. I've probably tortured you all. I'm really sorry. But now you will see why. I had trouble for the first thing I was gonna do, then it didn't work out and so came up with another idea for it that was somewhat similar to the first. I admire how Gosho Aoyama is able to come up with these things so fast. **_

_**Okay, since I forgot if I've done this already or not: disclaimer, I don't own Meitantei Conan (Detective Conan/Case Closed). The only thing I own in this fanfic are the plotline and OCs (such as the upcoming Sawamura Chitose, Ryunosuke Futami, Yamasuki Sora and Mitsudari Riki). **_

_**Okay, now for the first chapter in how long . . . ! **_

* * *

Chapter 9: Conan Suspected Murder Case, Part 1:

Conan stopped in his tracks when he reached the alley. The shadow he had noticed before was nowhere to be seen. But just to be sure, he searched the dark passageway for any trace of the figure. Nothing. Could it have been his imagination?

He was about to turn back when, as he was crouched down looking for traces, his hand brushed across a warm, wet surface. He curiously explored further along the pool of liquid with the strangely familiar smell wafting toward him. Dreading what he might come across, Conan rounded the corner where the liquid was slowly flowing from.

He stopped when he saw the horrible scene before him. "Haibara!" Conan shouted, urgency in his voice, "Call an ambulance and the police!"

Haibara, hearing his call from across the street, didn't wait to find out what had happened. That detective always managed to find the victim of a murderer wherever he went. She opened her phone and did what Conan said.

Conan, meanwhile, ran up to the man who had collapsed in the alley with blood oozing out of the wounds in his side. He checked his pulse, then he shook his head. Useless. He was dead. Conan examined the corpse. If only he had arrived a few minutes earlier! He could have done something - anything - to keep him alive until the ambulance had come! Just a few minutes too late! It frustrated him so much!

Conan quickly turned around as he realized, since this man had died only minutes before, the murderer could still be lurking about. He relaxed when he found out that no one had come up behind him.

* * *

_That was a close call,_ thought the man who was hiding in the alley as he watched the boy look around suspiciously. He was lucky that that corpse had distracted the kid. Otherwise, he might have been discovered, especially if that person was really the one whom he suspected him to be . . .

* * *

"The victim is Sawamura Chitose," Detective Takagi summarized. After the ambulance had come and left, and the police had arrived, Conan had stepped back to allow the forensics to do their work. Heiji, running, had followed the police cars when he heard their sirens and noticed that they were traveling in the same direction that Conan and the Detective Boys had gone. "Age 25, he worked as an auto repairman. We have found three people wandering close by who were close enough to be considered suspects of the murder. The first is Ryunosuke Futami," he gestured toward an athletic young woman with light brown hair and gray eyes that kept welling up with tears. "At age 23, Ryunosuke-san was the victim's girlfriend. The next is Yamasuki Sora." He indicated a tall man with blond hair and dark brown eyes. He looked nervous. "Yamasuki-san is a 37-year-old composer who has created various children's songs. The last is Mitsudari Riki." This time Detective Takagi gestured toward a middle-aged man with black hair and blue eyes. He looked both nervous and worried. "Mitsudari-san is a 40-year-old author who has written many mystery books."

Yamasuki-san walked up to Detective Takagi, Detective Satou, Inspector Megure, Heiji and Conan. "I still don't get why you've called us here," he said to the five. "We were just walking around when this thing happened. You can't suspect one of us of being the murderer, can you?!"

"H-hold on. Don't worry, we're just taking precautions," Inspector Megure said, wondering how many times he's had to say this to people.

"Ne," Conan said suddenly, "What happened?"

"Huh?" Yamasuki-san replied, confused.

"Look," Conan replied, pointing at Yamasuki-san's hands, "Your hands got all scratched up."

The composer quickly glanced down at his hand, then replied, "Oh this? I was just trimming my rose bushes. I lost my gloves and didn't have time to go buy new ones because I needed to be on time for my Go club."

"Oh, okay," Conan said. Then he heard a noise and turned around to look. He sighed with a "not again" look on his face when he saw none other than Detective Mouri entering the alley. He must have noticed the police cars and come to see what was going on.

Heiji also noticed this and walked over to Conan. He was about to talk to the shrunken detective when something caught his eye. Something that was peeking out from behind the corner Detective Mouri had come from. He crouched down next to Conan and, while gesturing toward the thing he had seen, whispered, "Is that who I think it is?"

Conan looked over toward where Heiji was indicating. Then he sighed again and shook his head. "Why?" he asked himself, "Okay, I understand Ran's dad but why did _he_ have to come as well? It not like there's much he can do here. Just get in the way."

After giving Detective Mouri the rundown of what had happened so far, Inspector Megure walked over to the three they had found nearby, along with the others. "Where were you guys around 10AM this morning?"

"You _are_ suspecting one of us of being the murderer!" Yamasuki-san said.

"I didn't say that," the Inspector replied.

"Then why are you asking us these questions?"

"Like I said before, they're just precautions."

"Sounds to me like you're just using an excuse to suspect innocent people of being the culprit," Yamasuki-san muttered to himself so that Inspector Megure couldn't hear him.

"Please," Detective Takagi spoke up, "Can you tell us what you were doing during the time of the crime?"

* * *

"Ne, where's Conan-kun?" Ayumi asked when they got to the park.

"Haibara-chan isn't here either," Mitsuhiko added.

"Taku," Genta said, "Those two leaving us here and going off without telling us."

* * *

_**Hopefully this is okay. This is the first time I've tried coming up with a good case and, as you can see, it's taken me weeks to set it up amongst the school work I've had and finding the evidence. But it's finally posted, and the next chapter should come out soon enough! **_

_**Can anybody guess who it was that was watching from around the corner? Probably. As a hint, Heiji says, "Is that who I think it is?", implying that both he and Conan know the person, so it can't be the one that had been watching. **_

_**Ja ne! **_


	10. Conan Suspected Satsujin Jiken: Part 2

_**Konbanwa! Sapphire Nightshade here! Sorry for the late update, but the next chapter has been written! I've been working on a couple different fanfics at once, but this one's next chapter is finally done. And if you're curious about the change name of the chapter title (saying Satsujin Jiken instead of Murder Case), I just switched the English with Japanese. It still says the same thing. **_

_**Good job FanficEater for guessing it right ;) **_

_**I tried some dragon fruit today . . . it tastes weird . . . **_

_**Anyway . . . next chapter! **_

* * *

Chapter 10: Conan Suspected Satsujin Jiken, Part 2:

"Please," Detective Takagi for the second time, "Can you tell us what you were doing during the time of the crime?"

Mitsudari-san was the first one who spoke up, "Listen," he said, "I have absolutely nothing to do with this case, alright? But I'll tell you anyway. Let's see . . . Around ten, I was in that convenience store around the corner. My wife had asked me to buy some onigiri for today's lunch and I wanted to get there early so I could work on my new book."

"I see," Detective Takagi replied, writing in his notebook.

Yamasuki-san answered next. "Around ten I had just come back from the other side of town. I was on my way home when you guys brought me here."

"Is there anyone who can testify to that?" Detective Satou asked.

Yamasuki-san thought about it. "Well, I did buy a pineapple. The foreign foods shop employee could testify to that."

"A _pineapple?_"

"Well, yeah. I went to buy some foreign foods for an exotic dinner for a surprise party that I was planning for my friend. None of my other friends know yet, though. I was planning on telling them soon."

"Someone check that," Inspector Megure said to a bystanding officer. He ran off to do what the inspector had asked.

"What about you?" Detective Takagi asked the last remaining person: Ryunosuke Futami-san.

She sniffed, finally able to contain her tears, and replied, "How could you suspect me as well as those two?" she asked sadly. "I'm his girlfriend!"

_It's been done before_, Conan thought, thinking about the roller coaster case at Tropical Island, the day he had been attacked by Gin and turned into Conan.

However, Ryunosuke-san still answered the question. "I . . . I was out eating breakfast with Chitose," she managed to say through her tear-stained voice, "We were spending the day out, and afterwards were going to watch a movie. But right after we finished breakfast at a restaurant, Chitose said he had to do something really quickly and that it would only take a couple minutes. He told me to wait outside until he had come back." Her voice cracked and she broke down into tears once again.

"I see," Detective Mouri said, looking thoughtful. "I think I've got it." Detective Takagi, Detective Satou, and Inspector Megure looked at him expectantly, gesturing him to continue. Heiji and Conan sighed, getting ready for another deduction that was most likely far from the truth. "The culprit is . . . you!" he said, pointing at Ryunosuke-san.

Ryunosuke looked up, startled. "H-how could you think it was me?" she sniffed sadly.

"It's obvious," he replied, "You're the only one without a secure alibi. You were spending the day with Chitose, who has now passed away and cannot affirm your alibi."

"But Ojisan!" Conan said in his little kid voice, "Wouldn't one of the people in the restaurant have seen her waiting outside?"

"Baka!" he replied, "Why would one of the employees keep an eye on someone who wasn't even in the restaurant?!"

"Oh!" Ryunosuke-san said suddenly, "I remember now. The waitress who was at our table called me back inside, because Chitose and I had forgotten to pay the bill."

"Taku," Detective Mouri replied irritably, "How could you forget such an important detail?"

"So then," Inspector Megure said almost to himself, "We could have missed the actual murder, who might be long gone by now."

_No,_ Conan thought, _The culprit has to be one of these people. Which means, one of their alibis are fake._

After the alibi questioning, Conan left the crime scene for a few minutes, Heiji following, and went around the corner. "Okay," Conan asked the "child", crossing his arms, "What are you doing here?"

Raiden shrugged, "I was bored. He," he pointed to Heiji, "started running after the police cars and so I followed him." Conan glanced up at Heiji.

"Hey, I didn't know the kid was following me," Heiji defended himself. "I thought he had come with Mouri-san. They showed up around the same time." Raiden decided to tolerate the fact that Heiji had called him a kid, even if that was his nickname.

"Well, anyway," Conan said, "You should go back home. You'll just get in the way here."

Raiden crossed his arms defiantly. "No, I won't. I'll stay back here." Maybe he could also keep an eye on the little detective just in case they got out of this situation and Conan was chasing him down again.

Conan looked at him suspiciously, but said, "Fine, just don't get in the way."

When Conan and Heiji walked back to the crime scene, they found that forensics had reported while they were talking to Raiden. Sawamura-san had indeed died from bleeding to death. However, there were two types of blood found on the body, one having a much smaller quantity than the other. Yet another clue. The murderer must have somehow gotten his or her own blood onto the corpse.

Conan and Heiji pondered this for a while. The first person that came to mind was Yamasuki-san because of the scratches on his hands. So far, his alibi hadn't been confirmed yet, but that didn't mean that it wasn't true.

As Conan had that thought, he noticed that one of the police officers had come back. The officer briskly walked over to Inspector Megure, Detective Mouri, Detective Takagi and Detective Satou, who were grouped together talking about possible culprits and whether it was done by someone else that they hadn't found or not. The officer whispered something to the inspector and showed him a few pieces of paper. Curious, Conan followed.

As he came closer, he realized that the pieces of paper were actually pictures. Ah, so this must have been the officer that left to confirm Yamasuki's alibi. He had been so distracted with the case (and Raiden) that he had forgotten about that.

He peeked over and was able to see the pictures enough to confirm that Yamasuki-san's alibi was indeed confirmed before that annoying excuse for a detective bent down to him and said, "What are you doing?"

"Heh heh," Conan said in his childish voice. Then he walked away, rubbing the top of his head where Mouri had hit him. _Taku_, he thought, _I wish he would stop doing that. _After regaining his composure, he thought,_ Well, so far everybody's alibi has been confirmed. So then, what's the trick? Was this murder really done by one of those three?_

* * *

_**Don't ask about the random pineapple. I don't really know why I did that. I first just put it in as a joke-like thing and was gonna erase it, but then decided to keep it in. I mean, I've gotta have **_**some****_ sort of weird thing in each of my stories. I had to put the pineapple in there. I don't even know if there actually _****are****_ stores that sell exotic fruits like pineapples, coconuts and dragon fruit in Japan or not. Probably. _**

**_Conan is getting confused, but he needs to solve the case! There is only one truth! There is always one truth! One truth prevails! Shinjitsu wa itsumo hitotsu! (Was that too much?) Oh yeah, he also needs to find that mysterious person that made Haibara feel like someone from the Black Organization was near. That person wasn't even mentioned in this chapter, was s/he? Oh well. _**

**_Ja ne! _**


End file.
